Is Paris Nice?

by

Eh, yes, but the title is really a totally lame play on words.
Last weekend, me and the
wife went to
check out the start of the bike race Paris-Nice, which is a week
long stage race and a kind of mini Tour de France. I looked forward
to this, as I figured it would be more laid back than my adventure
trying to see the
arrival of the Tour de France and probably more similar to
my experience with the
arrival of the Grande Boucle AKA Women's Tour de France, in
which I got to
meet one of the riders.

Unlike those other races which end in Paris, this one starts in
Paris, usually just ouside, this time in Issy-les-Moulineaux, just to
the South. The first stage was a prologue consisting of a 3 mile
individual time trial through the city, featuring a big climb and
equally big descent. It was impressive as our first glimpse of the the
race was riders warming up by zooming down the descent at over 40
mph. Speeds in the race must have been closer to 50 mph.
Amazingly, they were still going over 25 mph up the climb
like Didier Rous seen here finishing that part of the course.

The nice thing about the Time Trial format is that you get to
see every rider over a two hour period.

Here's Catherine in front of the starting ramp. This race is much
more enjoyable to watch than the the arrival of the Tour de France,
since it is much more mellow but has the same riders. You can get up
close and personal, which mostly means watching them warming up on
their trainer.

Here's a guy from the new Brioche La Boulanger team, formerly
Bonjour. That sponsor did good, because no one I've met
so far in France has ever heard of them.

Though the professionals were very impressive, Catherine couldn't
see too much difference with me, at least trainer-wise. She had much
experience to base this on, since this last Winter, I averaged
an hour a day on the trainer in the living room, while she watched TV
or played Canasta on Yahoo
Games.

You can also ask the riders for autographs, and a number of
people had photographs of the riders to sign. I should point out that
almost all of the autograph seekers were middle-aged men which
quite nicely brought out the Peter Pan aspect of bike racing.

Next up was US Postal Service, but no Lance, he was in Spain.
That guy hanging around apparently gets paid for figuring out whether
the riders need anything, like water, in other words, a real
domestique.

Last, but not least, we come to TIOOYK (There Is Only One You Know,
as Phil Liggett says):

Yup, it's Eddy Merckx, the greatest bike racer of all time. Interestingly,
all the other teams had their riders cordoned off, except for his Lotto
Team. He was hanging out with son Axel, who was sitting on the bonnet
of a car, and this kid on the left who might be his grandson. In a word, Eddy
is regal, taking the continous barrage of compliments and adoration
in stride.

Here's Cath next to the Great Man, and I did my best to appear
natural, the only thing I could think of saying to him was:
"Bonjour, Monsieur." Oh well..

We came back in 2005 with our puppy
Hedwige. This time it was freezing cold, literally, as
it never got above 0C.

Here is Catherine trying to get some unfrozen water for our thirsty puppy.

And on the course, it was so cold that she put Hedwige to good use,
as in three dog night.
Hedwige can be seen looking intently at the lead motorcycle and
is getting
ready to pounce on the unsuspecting bicycle racer following it.

Here is Hedwige about to perturb the race again as she is preparing to
execute her famous backward leap over the barriers.

By that time, we had enough and left before Lance came by. He left the race
a couple of days later.